Fall Creek Vineyards (Hill Country)

[00:00:00] Howdy Vine Trippers. I wanted to take just a moment to talk to you about the Texas Wine

[00:00:10] Lover website and their phone app for both iPhones as well as Google devices. You can

[00:00:17] actually download this app, put it on your phone or just go to the website if you're

[00:00:21] not an app person. And if you ever want to go visit some of these great locations

[00:00:25] that we've been talking about in the podcast, this will give you a great information

[00:00:29] about the place before you go. And you'll be able to find other wineries in the area.

[00:00:33] So if you want to make a day of it, go see several other places as well. You can

[00:00:37] search by region. You can sort the listings, find ones that are kid-friendly,

[00:00:42] family-friendly, even ones that host RVs. All kinds of different sortable

[00:00:46] listings you can find there in that app and on the website. You can find other

[00:00:50] things as well in the area like restaurants, accommodations, maybe events

[00:00:54] that are going on at the different wineries. So it's your one-stop

[00:00:58] resource that goes hand-in-hand with this podcast to be able to find those great

[00:01:02] places to go visit. So check out the Texas Wine Lover website. It's TXwineLover.com

[00:01:09] or go to their app. You can find it on the Google Play Store or the Apple Store as

[00:01:14] well. Enjoy your trips among the vines and use that app.

[00:01:28] Welcome to Texas Under Vine, an exploratory podcast to scout out the best

[00:01:45] Texas Wine Country has to offer. I'm your wine guide Scott and I'm here to

[00:01:50] lead you on an auditory expedition to the vineyards and wineries across the

[00:01:54] great Lone Star State. Each episode will cover a different vineyard, winery or wine

[00:01:59] related business operating in Texas. You'll hear interviews, descriptions and

[00:02:04] details about each location that will excite you to visit and experience them

[00:02:08] for yourself. Ready to plan a wine tour? Use these episodes to choose the most

[00:02:12] interesting spots for you and your friends to check out. Most of all,

[00:02:16] enjoy hearing about the rapidly growing wine industry in the state and what

[00:02:20] makes our wines and wineries the best.

[00:02:24] Howdy fellow Vine Tripper. Welcome to episode 38 for Texas Under Vine. Today, I'm going to the

[00:02:42] Hill Country, and visiting one of arguably one of the most important wine

[00:02:46] destinations in the modern period for Texas Wine. That's where I fall creep

[00:02:52] vineyards in the little Texas historic town of Tau, Texas located on the banks of

[00:02:58] Lake Buchanan in the Hill Country. And this story goes all the way back to 1973

[00:03:04] and it was started by Ed and Susan Aller. Now Ed and Susan Aller were multiple

[00:03:09] generation cattle ranchers and had been in their blood for many years and

[00:03:13] they had some a ranch, it's a property there near Tau and they decided to

[00:03:18] actually go to France on a trip in 1973 to look into possibly getting a

[00:03:23] fridge bowl or so to mate with their Angus cattle and they decided while they

[00:03:27] were there, while you're in France, do like the fridge. So they wanted to spend

[00:03:31] some time in some of the French wine country on this trip, this three-week

[00:03:35] trip that they had planned. Now when all was said and done and they got back,

[00:03:39] they ironically spent two days looking at bulls for 19 days visiting multiple

[00:03:45] regions of France throughout multiple areas of the wine country and fell in love

[00:03:49] with wine. Now one of the things they noticed was that some of the terroir or

[00:03:53] the terrain there was very similar to what we have here in the Hill Country, even

[00:03:58] kind of similar to what they had on their ranch there in Tau. Now at this

[00:04:03] time as well, the University of Texas and Texas A&M were both doing a

[00:04:07] viability studies on great growing and great planting throughout Texas to

[00:04:12] try to find areas that might be good for that and so they were planting

[00:04:15] experimental vineyards and so the Aulers decided to plant an

[00:04:19] experimental vineyard on their ranch there to see how it would go.

[00:04:23] And turns out it went spectacularly. Around 1975, they decided to start

[00:04:30] Fall Creek Vineyards. Now in 1979 Ed actually gave up his

[00:04:35] law practice to pursue it full-time and in 1981

[00:04:39] they opened up their tasting room for Fall Creek vineyards as a full winery

[00:04:43] production. They bought about 400 acres to increase

[00:04:47] their vineyard holdings and when they opened that tasting room they became

[00:04:50] the first winery tasting room in the Hill Country of Texas

[00:04:55] and kind of amazing to see how many wineries we have here now

[00:04:59] and this is the one that really started it all off and what we know

[00:05:02] of is the the Wine Road 290 and all of the wineries that we have there

[00:05:06] in the Fredericksburg and Johnson City area especially

[00:05:09] but they actually created a tasting room in Driftwood, Texas as well so not only

[00:05:16] do they have the original location in Tau where they have their vineyard but

[00:05:20] then they also have a tasting room closer a little bit into the more

[00:05:23] traveled area the Hill Country near Austin in Driftwood.

[00:05:26] Now some people have called the Aulers the Mondavis of Texas which is if you

[00:05:32] know anything about your wine history is a huge compliment for the

[00:05:36] major effect the Mondavis had in California

[00:05:39] that's kind of a similar type of effect that the Aulers have had here in Texas.

[00:05:44] We owe much of our current modern wine industry

[00:05:47] thanks to them and the efforts they did matter of fact Ed was instrumental

[00:05:51] in petitioning the the Tax and Trade Bureau to have the Hill Country AVA

[00:05:56] that we know of now put into place in 1990 so without a lot of their

[00:06:01] contributions and the grilled work that they placed and laid for us

[00:06:06] many of the modern wine wineries and wine destinations we know of that I

[00:06:10] visited on this very podcast probably wouldn't exist so we owe a great

[00:06:14] debt of gratitude to what they have done and more

[00:06:17] importantly what they continue to do for the Texas wine industry as

[00:06:21] they're not done yet they're going to keep on

[00:06:23] painting new roads and really keeping the ones they paint established here

[00:06:27] now sadly Ed passed back this last October in 2023

[00:06:33] but his legacy will live on for generations to come

[00:06:36] and his wife Susan and their son Chad aren't losing a beat

[00:06:40] they're picking up those reins and continuing to forge new growth and

[00:06:44] new paths for fall creek vineyards so their future is brighter than ever as

[00:06:47] they continue to go forward making exquisite and magnificent

[00:06:50] wines here in the Hill Country of Texas now their director of wine

[00:06:55] making Sergio Quadra actually began his wine making career many

[00:06:59] years ago in Chile and he managed to work his way

[00:07:03] through turn in Chile up here to the United States and has now been at fall

[00:07:07] creek for 10 years he brings a wealth of wine experience

[00:07:11] from all kinds of locations through California through Chile

[00:07:15] to our little heart of Texas here in the Hill Country

[00:07:18] now another once had as many as 60 acres under vine

[00:07:22] they actually have no maintained about 10 acres of their own vineyards and

[00:07:26] then they source grapes from all through Texas as they bring

[00:07:30] amazing Texas wines to you as I said they have two tasting rooms they have the

[00:07:34] original when they're at town now just be aware that one is only open on

[00:07:38] Saturdays their driftwood tasting room however gets the bulk of their traffic

[00:07:42] and it is actually open seven days a week so you have options as to where

[00:07:46] you want to go but if you're going to go to town just make sure it's on a

[00:07:48] Saturday they also have a couple of rooms that

[00:07:51] you can rent at their driftwood location if you want to actually stay on

[00:07:55] site you can do that and the area where they add the

[00:07:58] tasting room there in driftwood actually has some Texas historical

[00:08:02] significance as that land was owned by Colonel Travis

[00:08:05] Wimby Travis previously but you'll hear more about that in the interview I don't

[00:08:09] want to spoil that for you right now and they do seated tastings there at

[00:08:13] the driftwood location so it feels like you're in the living room of your

[00:08:16] best friend's house you just walk in it's comfortable you sit

[00:08:20] down at a table the smallies pour your wine for you tell

[00:08:23] you the stories of these magnifs and wines you're tasting

[00:08:26] and it's a very comfortable fun experience there now for today's interview

[00:08:30] I was privileged with the honor of sitting down with their director of

[00:08:33] winemaking Sergio Quadra being able to pick his brain a little bit about some

[00:08:38] of the history there at Fall Creek some of his winemaking techniques and his

[00:08:42] views on the Texas wine industry and it's a really

[00:08:45] fun experience to hear what he has to say about this historic winery

[00:08:49] so without further ado let's go to that interview and hear directly from

[00:08:52] you

[00:08:59] welcome to Texas Undervine I'm here with Sergio Quadra from Fall Creek Vineyards

[00:09:04] and we're going to hear a little bit about their history so Sergio first tell

[00:09:07] me a little bit about yourself personally what what got you into the wine

[00:09:10] industry well hello everybody hello Scott um so

[00:09:14] I was in the university back in my home country Chile

[00:09:19] and I was studying the right thing to be studying agronomy

[00:09:23] what they call it there uh or an agronomy I was going to become a

[00:09:27] agronomy engineering um so what I loved about it is that back

[00:09:33] then we were already knowing about how how uh crops can be modeled

[00:09:41] with math formulas I mean if you introduced

[00:09:46] weather information water information nutrients information you can

[00:09:50] you can get a forecast of what's going to happen at the end of the season

[00:09:55] so a lot of math a lot of formulas a lot of uh

[00:10:00] you know modeling and when it came to wine formulas don't apply

[00:10:07] well you you can you have to keep them aside you know you have to know

[00:10:11] your your science behind but the result

[00:10:15] it's about you it's about me it's about the noses that the the palates that are

[00:10:19] going to taste the wine and that that is in almost I guess impossible to model

[00:10:25] so this that mystery that that kind of uh openness to

[00:10:30] uh well what a form of art uh what what got my my attention to the

[00:10:38] first place um also I found I still find um

[00:10:44] you know mind-boggling that you know nowadays your your phone

[00:10:48] maybe obsolete after a few years um and uh the wine on the other hand

[00:10:57] is made the same way it was made centuries ago if not thousands of

[00:11:04] years ago so that's also something that that um

[00:11:08] interest me um I always was um uh interested in in in reading old

[00:11:16] books for example because they they really knew

[00:11:20] how to figure out problems that now we're facing

[00:11:24] still facing but on a natural way on a on a practical way not knowing a lot of

[00:11:30] the science behind it but they were able to

[00:11:34] you know create all the most of the varieties that we we drink

[00:11:38] today you know hundreds of years ago so that's also something that that it's uh

[00:11:43] it's really attractive in my case the tradition the link between

[00:11:49] the wine the product and human beings is something uh

[00:11:55] unseparable and and um I love I love that it's very subjective

[00:12:00] and I love the longevity and the mystery of wine that you talked about

[00:12:03] yeah and and and uh give the fact that you buy something a product out of the

[00:12:09] shelf and and you store it what else do you do

[00:12:15] you know the same thing I mean you store it you you want age it

[00:12:19] uh so that that's also something very interesting you know there's a mystery

[00:12:23] there's again no formulas can can tell you what's

[00:12:27] gonna happen it's it's a little bit of a mystery and I love it

[00:12:31] the magic n-ball yeah well so here you are you're studying agronomy in Chile

[00:12:37] so what was your pathway that led you from the mountains or the valleys of Chile

[00:12:43] as they have both wine regions there all the way to Austin Texas and then Tau Texas and

[00:12:49] here we're here at Falkirk so right after college I

[00:12:54] dived in right into winemaking uh I mean working in a winery over there as an

[00:12:59] intern first and then you know sell our hand or that that kind of basic jobs um for I mean and

[00:13:06] and then I worked my way up um to being you know head winemaker of of different wineries there

[00:13:15] I had the chance to I mean a little background of that era between the 90s and the 2010s

[00:13:22] uh the Chilean wine industry grew I mean exponentially and and I mean that literally

[00:13:31] in in 1988 I know this for fact the wine exports were 20 million dollars worth of wine

[00:13:40] 20 years later it was 1.2 billion so that's a 60 times increase yeah

[00:13:47] so like like you have to measure in times of increase not not not percentages anymore because

[00:13:54] it was it was great so uh there I was with my colleagues you know watching this growth

[00:14:01] and every year the the budget was like how much more are we growing like vineyards planted

[00:14:10] tanks built you know wineries extended so all that was very uh you know it was kind of the

[00:14:17] environment for us and so but at the same time when I had the chance to show wines to the world

[00:14:26] because I you know wineries sent you overseas to show the wine to kind of defend your wine

[00:14:33] you know to people you get the idea that oh chili what what was chili like what can you do

[00:14:40] against this giant and traditional regions of of Europe or the US etc so we were always kind of

[00:14:48] trying to break through preconceived ideas oh it felt like the underdog yes and so when I came here

[00:14:56] for the first time I kind of felt the same feeling of okay Texas is kind of making its way out you

[00:15:03] know out and and try to again break through being the underdog although Texas won't like that of course

[00:15:13] but um but that's the case and and so I felt like Texas was and still is in a way

[00:15:21] in in similar stages that that the Chilean one used to was 25 30 years ago or what California was

[00:15:29] 60 years ago you know so um I think there's a huge opportunity for for Texas and I felt like

[00:15:36] I I can bring my two cents here uh to to the table to kind of make that you know break through

[00:15:45] make that happen to to go away out and and conquer you know whatever it's there to to be

[00:15:53] conquered so so that that's pretty much what what happened with me the first 19 years of my career

[00:15:59] now already 10 years here in Texas so it's it's already like 30 years yeah well well got you

[00:16:06] to fall creek so um I was I was back in Chile and a common friend of ours uh Paul hops from wine

[00:16:16] re very well renowned California winemaker um put us together like they they were looking for

[00:16:24] winemaker I was open to to explore new uh frontiers or you know places and we started

[00:16:32] Skyping back then and uh a month later I was here to to see what was going on for like a

[00:16:39] trial period a short time visit so to speak and but soon after like I said I felt this okay this

[00:16:46] is the stage that this industry is it right now and and so there's a lot to do a lot to grow

[00:16:54] uh a lot to kind of introduce and uh so I failed and I love Texas I mean it was um

[00:17:01] uh a very welcoming welcome um very uh kind of open to to new ideas and they were just

[00:17:10] you know open to to um uh to use me so to speak in in in in in their

[00:17:18] uh you know winemaking then your um uh work also so yeah decided to bring the family

[00:17:26] and move to to Texas all right and they built on your experience to make the wines here

[00:17:31] that was the the idea yes you know being from Chile one of the things that I've always been

[00:17:36] intrigued with is the story of the lost varietal of carmen air oh yeah how it was thought to be

[00:17:42] more low for so long yeah um and that it was completely gone from France and then it was able

[00:17:47] to be transplanted back from Chile yes uh that that I guess that has many angles uh

[00:17:58] vines were brought to Chile just like in whatever in the new world and they strived of course in

[00:18:04] in California in Australia and Chile and Argentina etc so some of those vines were

[00:18:11] carmen air and uh I guess for the bulk of the 20th century uh the wine the Chilean wine industry

[00:18:19] was meant for the local for the domestic market pretty much there was no very little experts um

[00:18:26] and the Chileans drunk massive wines uh the the demand for high quality

[00:18:35] wines was just not there in a way it's like it's like the this similar phenomenon to coffee

[00:18:43] coffee used to be 50 cents per you know per what and now it's $12 a cup yeah yeah so like somebody

[00:18:53] had the idea to how to bring that so wine was like hey for for it's part of your dinner

[00:18:59] part of your lunch part so it wasn't something expensive anyway so the the um the demand for

[00:19:07] quality was just not there and so wines were made red or white but basically table wine basic

[00:19:15] table wine if if someone was naming a variety the the king was Cabernet and and on this on the

[00:19:24] white was Salvia and blood okay Chardonnay came later you know but it was so me and

[00:19:29] blighters so Salvin block or Cabernet and then the rest was just obscure I mean Merlot a few

[00:19:36] and and people didn't know anything about it so the Merlot and Carmen air got mixed

[00:19:43] and and it was all considered if if anything Merlot and the Carmen air name was just forgotten

[00:19:51] and uh when quality was demanded finally in the late 80s and early 90s wine started to invest in

[00:20:03] better equipment and invest in vineyards you know better so to figure it out what was really happening

[00:20:09] because we needed to improve quality and so with lots of traveling back and forth

[00:20:17] you know some some um it was a French guy that said no that's not Merlot

[00:20:22] that's something else he wasn't sure yeah because even even for him who was a um specialist

[00:20:29] wasn't sure about it Nick the following year he came back and said you what you have there is

[00:20:34] Carmen air and we were like okay so and so that that's when when Carmen air started as a as an

[00:20:42] independent variety and that was 1995 wow and um so now turns out that we had like I mean a Chile had

[00:20:52] like 10 or 15 thousand uh hectares which is 25 000 acres of Carmen air overnight wow so so that

[00:21:05] was the the start of it and uh and there's no other major region or or even smaller regions that hasn't

[00:21:13] as as uh important as as what happens in Chile now the the forgetting about Carmen air a thing

[00:21:22] has to do with what happened in Bordeaux originally so and uh speaking about old books so one of my

[00:21:33] I mean one of my patches is is that and so I I got a whole of an old book written before

[00:21:43] Phylloxara in Europe wow and I don't know if you can introduce or have introduced your audience to

[00:21:48] Phylloxara but in in a nutshell uh it's a it's a bug that went from the US to to Europe

[00:21:56] you know unknowingly and and so it devastated the the the vineyards over there and the solution was to

[00:22:02] plant grafted vines so um uh an American rootstock is until this day you know planted

[00:22:11] and then a variety is grafted on top that solution by the way came from Texas

[00:22:16] well but that's an old TV month that yes that that's another story anyway so books written

[00:22:22] before Phylloxara describing the vineyard in Bordeaux for example or in France in general

[00:22:29] they describe Cabernet uh they don't mention I mean they mentioned Merlot as a far lesser variety

[00:22:36] but they mentioned Carmen air whom and Petit Verlot and um Malbec and so that that was the base

[00:22:46] wine out of Bordeaux and so I have found descriptions that that really match really well what what

[00:22:55] we experienced in Chile so the Carmen air loved back then loved clay soils for example

[00:23:02] and they knew about it and guess what it it loves clay in Chile of course so so it was a

[00:23:09] it was a very important variety but the downside was that it it tend to to suffer

[00:23:17] calure which is the not not setting well so the bunches were just loose and so few berries not

[00:23:25] very tight clusters not tight clusters and and loose clusters which means low production

[00:23:32] at the end of the day and the second thing is the latest of the varieties the latest to be

[00:23:39] ready for harvest so Phylloxara came and devastates the vineyards in in the whole Europe

[00:23:46] and in Bordeaux in particular the solution comes with the grafting and um but they had

[00:23:53] the chance to replace vineyards because they had to replace everything yeah so their blend was

[00:24:01] the backbone was Cabernet and they needed something to soften the tens of Cabernet

[00:24:07] and the Carmen air made that you know function but they had Merlot to replace it

[00:24:16] and Merlot is highly productive I mean you sometimes the problem is that it produces too much

[00:24:23] overproductive yes so it's a good problem and so you can thin out but but which is not something

[00:24:30] you can do with Carmen air when it's already you need everything you've got from right so

[00:24:34] so it's highly productive and it's the first one to be ready as opposed to the last one

[00:24:40] so here you are a a vintners a winemaker or or a vineyard owner having to replace your entire estate

[00:24:50] in a matter of a few years what variety would you choose for the same purpose to get you back

[00:24:56] up on your feet as quick as possible the one that produces the most the one that it's

[00:25:01] sometimes overproductive that also likes clay soils and that ripens the very first one

[00:25:08] or stick with the one that you know ripens the last and it doesn't produce as much so

[00:25:16] it was an I think it was an easy solution I mean easy choice for them to replace Carmen air with Merlot

[00:25:24] and now and they entirely forgot them back about Merlot and Merlot was established

[00:25:32] there's more Merlot than Cabernet in Bordeaux and so it became the variety the

[00:25:38] main variety but it's not what those old books say you know they they they name Carmen air so anyway

[00:25:47] so what if right bank was all Carmen air instead of Merlot you know this day yeah interesting

[00:25:51] and interestingly in Chile what happened if you plant Carmen air and Cabernet in a clay soil

[00:26:01] the Carmen air in it in a warm kind of towards the hotter part of the of the valleys

[00:26:07] the Carmen air is usually it's very good and the Cabernet it's not as good

[00:26:14] and it's kind of below average okay like you I mean if this makes it to the best bottle

[00:26:22] you're producing the Cabernet is not going to be close to it yeah see so going back to Bordeaux

[00:26:30] for those you know knowledgeable enough about what happens in Bordeaux so you have the the

[00:26:37] more gravels and in the left back you know and you have more clay in the in general you know in

[00:26:44] in the in the right bank so and you have more Merlot in the right back and more Carmen air

[00:26:48] dominating blends and the lifts so it's kind of the same so I can only imagine how successful

[00:26:56] wines were when there was Carmen air planted on those clay soils in in Bordeaux so anyway it's just

[00:27:04] my my my theory there yeah based on what we experience in Chile but yeah that's it's a very

[00:27:10] interesting story of Carmen air and I would love to see it more planted in here yeah in Texas

[00:27:17] because it loves warm weather it's it's the last one to be ready so you plant it in hot

[00:27:26] weather in hot environments so it can be um fully ripe by the time in a reasonable time

[00:27:34] in Chile even in the warmest areas they they wait until late April and sometimes way into May

[00:27:46] to plant them so that's that's like the equivalent of November to harvest a red

[00:27:53] dry red wine it's not we're not talking about any sweet stuff or anything crazy late to harvest

[00:28:00] like those late harvest wines it's not it's to harvest it properly um so even even um

[00:28:08] uh just the slight less coolness may may keep it you know under ripe so you come back here to Texas

[00:28:17] and there's definitely areas that um for the most part of the whole state will be suitable for for

[00:28:24] Carmen air the city is is another problem that that's the only little challenge but that that

[00:28:30] can be corrected um because even back then the city was was rather low maybe because of that long

[00:28:39] hanging time you know the city turned out usually lower than than the other varieties

[00:28:46] but again that's the good blending uh feature you know that that you can use uh to make a sound

[00:28:54] but I actually have seen a few places that in Texas now that are producing Carmen air so

[00:29:00] hopefully it's maybe it's on the upswing a little bit yes yes and unfortunately I haven't

[00:29:04] had my my chance to get my hands on on one of those lot keep that on the radar I look forward

[00:29:09] to tasting one of yours yeah well let's talk about this location then um some of the history here

[00:29:14] of fall creek vineyards we know how you got here now but let's talk about how it got here so

[00:29:19] founded by Ed and Susan all are so tell me a little bit about their story and how fall

[00:29:23] creeds honey got started here so they were a young couple he was a lawyer um and uh they have this

[00:29:30] this ranch uh cattle ranch here in the hill country uh 20 minutes west I mean east from

[00:29:39] lano to to end up northwest shore of Lake Buchanan and uh they were looking for cattle new breeds

[00:29:47] cattle in France one one time and and they were to spend you know looking for for different growers

[00:29:56] or breeders and uh they they say they spend like three days looking for cattle in like two weeks

[00:30:02] in the wine country and so they grabbed one of those books that that tell you all about

[00:30:09] those areas back they back in the day they you know no maps or you know just maps or no

[00:30:16] no uh no GPS no GPS no screens to look for things so you look for um you know milestones

[00:30:24] on the road or something to to to get to places uh wine tourism wasn't a thing you know we're talking

[00:30:31] about 1973 mm-hmm so going back to um what it was his passion one of these passions was you know

[00:30:40] geology and you know he was very aware of the of the place he had his own GPS in his mind to be

[00:30:48] on I mean he didn't need any any new device he knew where where he was all the time where

[00:30:55] Norse was so being a pilot uh he really mastered that so he found that the landscaping in

[00:31:04] in Europe was pretty similar to what what he saw back in his hometown and home state

[00:31:12] so he he thought I wonder if anybody had tried you know planting vineyards here and so they

[00:31:19] developed the the like for for wines and planted their first vines in 1975 right here where we are

[00:31:28] in Tau Texas and inaugurated the winery in 1981 okay uh over that period the first um the first

[00:31:38] production of small productions were made in a garage here you know um so but the the winery

[00:31:45] itself was was established in 1981 so and and back in the day they were the first you know winery

[00:31:54] in the hill country in what we know now it's the the Texas hill country and um and then more more

[00:32:02] vineyards started to to to appear uh Yana Staccato had done it before like a couple years before

[00:32:10] in in in the high plains uh this of course uh I forget who else but but they here in the hill

[00:32:17] country they were definitely the first ones and um so they started with this wine business and uh

[00:32:28] to to the point that Ed even quit his his law uh practice to fully you know introduce himself in

[00:32:36] in the wine industry along with with Susan and soon after you know a few years after

[00:32:43] you know working with it they realized the importance of the sense of place the the origin

[00:32:49] where where uh vines come from and and of course you know they they can name the place all they want

[00:32:55] but it wasn't really known and uh when they went to say okay we want to establish you know the

[00:33:03] the hill country as an as an appellation um the authorities said well what's the link between

[00:33:10] that and wine yeah so they needed to kind of show me but who associates wine with the hill

[00:33:16] country there's nothing yeah and so they came back to the drawing board and said okay we need we need

[00:33:21] to okay create that yeah that link and Susan started the what uh what was known as the

[00:33:28] hill country wine food festival first one hill here at where we are and and that you know became

[00:33:35] something he I mean she she brought chefs from Austin Dallas Houston San Antonio to kind of you

[00:33:43] know create the the the matching between wines and great great dishes and uh and that was you know

[00:33:50] turned into articles columns uh you know whole whole lot of press around that yeah the press was

[00:33:58] all over it and it became something yearly of course and so those were some of the proceedings

[00:34:04] to show to authorities okay here's here's what you asked us to do so this this is the link between

[00:34:11] wine and the hill country because this is produced here so laid the foundation for all of that right

[00:34:17] there is association and and it was yes and it was late 90s when the the hill the Texas hill

[00:34:24] country AVA American vitigultural uh area as they are called uh was was established was was finally

[00:34:34] you know in in his um uh ed's uh law practice you know law low background helped a lot in in terms of

[00:34:43] you know the ins and outs of all of the odds and tiddles of how to do a what to what to say

[00:34:48] what not to say etc so so that that helped too I bet he was behind the the the effort of creating

[00:34:56] the the hill country as an appellation and I would think as a pilot too and his understanding

[00:35:00] of geology knowing the area where the borders would be and all of that really that's the other

[00:35:05] aspect so so they require okay what makes this region special and and A was like oh let me tell you

[00:35:12] and so and he said the boundaries uh so boundaries were said you know easy to per easiness uh along

[00:35:21] highways that kind of marks the the edges but he knew all about you know what happened here what

[00:35:27] what created the hill country the lana app lift and all that you know the plates that moved etc so

[00:35:34] they were fairly convinced about you know the description and uh it made it pass

[00:35:43] how do you find troopers did you know that I now have a merchandise store for Texas undervine

[00:35:52] I only have a handful of limited items but you can go check those out and wear your

[00:35:55] Texas undervine swag if you'd like to tell all your friends about the great wine locations we

[00:36:00] have here in texas and maybe get them interested in the podcast as well so there are things like

[00:36:05] t-shirts there uh there's a hoodie there's a beady a ball cap things like that but one of

[00:36:10] the most exciting things I have right now is my limited time offer t-shirt that's my season one

[00:36:15] t-shirt so this is your tasting through texas texas undervine season one t-shirt it's only

[00:36:20] going to be available for a little short amount of time on the back it has all the different

[00:36:24] locations like a band tour t-shirt uh so this is a limited time item and you can go out and get

[00:36:30] it now and one of the great things about that t-shirt is a portion of every sale goes to

[00:36:35] support the texas hill country winery scholarship fund so you can know that by buying that t-shirt

[00:36:40] you're also investing in the the growing and flourishing of an amazing wine industry here in

[00:36:45] texas and all of those people that are going to come and make it even better check out that

[00:36:49] merchandise store it's on my website at texasundervine.com just go up to the top you'll see the link for

[00:36:54] the merchandise store and then so this has been they they established here I know they

[00:37:03] have another tasting room exact yes so so it all started here in tau winery vineyard and tasting room

[00:37:13] back in the we were the the few only ones in the area so and but now as as we know it it all has moved

[00:37:23] a little south along the 290 corridor or around austin you know that that area and

[00:37:31] we saw an opportunity to to start another tasting room in driftwood it's um it's that intersection

[00:37:39] where you find the salt lake barbecue on one side and we are right across the road from from

[00:37:44] the salt lake barbecue to which we're very close friends you know for years I mean they the

[00:37:51] Aulters and Scott robbers are our friends you know for many many many years so so yeah it was a very

[00:38:00] interesting very good well well visited location and that's our driftwood location we planted a

[00:38:07] little vineyard there and and we're open you know just like here you know we're open there daily

[00:38:16] uh for for public yes well and I can say as a true Texan nothing is better than an afternoon

[00:38:22] of going having some great brisket and barbecue and then go right across the street and enjoy some

[00:38:27] Texas wine yeah or you can do that all the other way around yeah you you choose your wines first

[00:38:32] you choose your wine first and you take your wine because it's by ob exactly so you can take

[00:38:37] your wine and enjoy the brisket across the road that's great that's great I have to drive though

[00:38:42] even though we're crossing you have to drive the sheriff won't allow you to cross into that road

[00:38:47] so yes yes fall creek vineyards tell me a little bit about where the name fall creek came from

[00:38:52] yeah so the ranch was called fall creek by the way uh Ed and Susan are

[00:38:59] thing the fourth generation and and now I mean uh cattle ranchers cattle ranches and

[00:39:06] owning the the place so the ranch was called fall creek because of this uh 15 mile spring fed

[00:39:14] creek that runs along and finally falls into originally the Colorado river and now when it's

[00:39:23] up the Buchanan lake okay and and they took the the name from there so it's it's actual it's

[00:39:30] an actual feature that you can visit you can you can see it it's it's it's absolutely real it has

[00:39:37] been real for thousands of years actually um when I came here in 2013 there was we were in the middle

[00:39:44] of the drought one of those droughts and that creek never stopped running so those those springs

[00:39:52] are really really powerful um because they never they have never stopped uh now that we were kind

[00:39:59] of in in the middle of another drought period uh yeah they have never never stopped um flowing so

[00:40:06] that's that's the name um and uh if you see our labels are usually related to the falls there's a

[00:40:16] background picture of the falls in one of the labels there's there's a rendering of

[00:40:22] waterfalls in another label so we kind of uh spin around that that same concept how many acres or

[00:40:29] whatever of a state vines do you have here as well as maybe at the yeah at some point at some point

[00:40:35] there were there were like 60 acres of vineyard planted here uh they they said this is before my

[00:40:42] time they suffer a uh a devastating freeze one year when it even the the Burkina lake froze um

[00:40:51] uh and and they so so they had to replant and then uh one of our um uh threats here in the

[00:41:01] hill country which we now need know we need to live with pierced pierces disease came and did its

[00:41:08] part so now we just keep a 10 acre you know uh the vineyard here and and we basically buy

[00:41:16] grapes from the hill country uh and other areas to to supply for the so so we we liked the the work

[00:41:25] you know the long term work with with growers and um so that that way we don't you know rely on

[00:41:32] just one place uh and that's that's keeping i mean to keep in mind that that we need to to have a stable

[00:41:41] source to to to to keep the the blends the wines going so so basically that's that's what

[00:41:50] what our sourcing comes from you know a few a little a couple of little vineyards we have

[00:41:57] driftwood this one and uh and then we buy grapes uh from from our friends yeah

[00:42:02] allows you to diversify your portfolio a little bit yes and it does do you do different lines of

[00:42:08] your wines for this is an estate wine and this is from this vineyard and so yeah the the the

[00:42:14] the way that our portfolio is is kind of designed uh we take grapes uh from different areas and

[00:42:23] and it it goes to to what we call a a texas based portfolio and there's a sauvien blanc chardonnay uh

[00:42:31] merlot cabernet uh and then uh a red blend can be there a rosset can be there as well and then we go to

[00:42:41] uh and we're we're shuffling things around uh a little now and uh we we call him

[00:42:49] vittner selection we're going to call him um reserve and and we're talking about the hill country fruit

[00:42:57] primarily and again a chardonnay um a a a russon a uh a red blend as well a timpani as well

[00:43:08] and then we we end with with our uh portfolio um not end but but the top of that portfolio is

[00:43:18] our what we call a terrarium reflection which are um vineyard designated wines so that's a

[00:43:24] timpani a blend that we call a gsm uh a chardonnay that it's barrel fermented um and we have done

[00:43:33] muvedre it's single muvedre uh we have done other other wines and then on top of this crowning this

[00:43:43] are a line of wine we introduced a few years ago which is called xterra okay out of this world out

[00:43:50] out of the earth out of this world xterra and and we have a sera a muvedre and a timpani

[00:43:57] and they are made uh not necessarily every year very small batches very small

[00:44:04] quantities because it's it's the the the most selected wines that we can have

[00:44:13] so uh we start in the vineyard with um doing something that we can call vineyard within the

[00:44:20] vineyard okay so selecting small patches within a block so not sweeping the block but taking

[00:44:28] what we feel it's it's special then it comes here and and you ferment uh and in in in more than one

[00:44:37] or two or three uh you know batches so that's a selection down the road and then they go to barrels

[00:44:44] that can be you know new different cuprigs different origins of barrels so at the end of the

[00:44:51] day each barrel becomes an individual okay from that little patch that you selected in the

[00:44:57] vineyard in the first place so you may end up with i don't know 10 20 30 individuals that then

[00:45:04] you choose to select the very best ones so usually you you you get barrels for example

[00:45:11] in the case of barrels you get barrels from different coopers uh different origins uh and

[00:45:18] in one wine can perform differently in one of those barrels again no math to forecast that

[00:45:27] and the following year it might be another wine performing as well or not as well or whatever

[00:45:34] so you it's a it's a trial every year basically comes the mystery that we talked about and that's

[00:45:39] why that's why you have to keep buying different types of barrels because you you don't know

[00:45:45] so there's consistency of course you one cooper uh brings you usually the best barrels you know some

[00:45:52] others are kind of you know uh i don't know accidents or or or so lesser lesser or less

[00:46:01] safe and and so but you have to keep buying from from different or getting different kinds

[00:46:06] of barrels so you have your individuals at the end of 18 months of aging yeah or 24 months of aging

[00:46:15] or sometimes it's even longer so um all all that again it's impossible to forecast you know on on

[00:46:24] the day of harvest for example um so so that that's the challenge that we have as winemakers to

[00:46:31] kind of interpret what we're seeing what we're tasting early on to try to get that that forecast to

[00:46:39] try to kind of um take us to the future and and you know hoping for for the good match that you

[00:46:47] that you're creating so um anyway that's that's how how so that that last uh

[00:46:55] exterra uh blend i mean a line of wine is created so the last selection and it might be

[00:47:03] two barrels three barrels one barrel's too little but so anywhere from two to three to five barrels

[00:47:11] that are the very best of everything those are destined to to the exteras also there's a

[00:47:18] there's a long friend of our in in our portfolio it's called meritus the latin for merit um so that

[00:47:28] has been a cabernet or bordeaux blend kind of wine and it's usually coming from uh a good friend of

[00:47:36] ours alphonse dotson uh from dotson servantes and he's got a wonderful site there in in uh

[00:47:46] mccoola county but it's close to mason and uh red sandy granite soils very very nice area uh

[00:47:54] some of the hickory sands area yeah exactly the hickory sands actually they're they're trying to get

[00:48:00] a uh an appellation there and i think they deserve it um because it is very very nice spot unique yeah

[00:48:06] yes very unique very very interesting so he's he's got very nice grapes there we buy them

[00:48:13] um so that's the meritus and that also kind of populates this this portfolio crowning the portfolio

[00:48:20] with some some years in some years out but but uh but it's also part of the the portfolio yeah

[00:48:28] was a little long but but but that's do you process all that here at this location all here in tau

[00:48:34] okay yes what are some of your favorite wines to make yes i i get that a lot um and and there's i

[00:48:43] enjoy them all and and it's not like not answering but it's really uh every every variety has has its uh

[00:48:53] its uh uh demands so to speak some some allow you to be lazy some and don't um and and i would like

[00:49:04] to to get my hands on more um well definitely carmen air like we spoke before um the most

[00:49:12] challenging one of the most challenges pinot noir and somebody would say pinot noir for texas

[00:49:19] so there's this there's some examples of pinot and pinot is is a variety that won't allow you

[00:49:26] mistakes yeah it's finicky right yes i mean it can easily pass from being potentially good to really

[00:49:35] bad yeah not metal ground not potentially directly to really bad so uh it so that's the

[00:49:43] challenge interesting interesting challenge to to have but there's not not a whole lot of

[00:49:48] that planted anyway but um move edry for example it grows in the vineyard perfectly i mean if if

[00:49:57] if you don't know anything about vineyard start with move edry um because it grows upward it it

[00:50:04] kind of not i mean it it it it it grows without even touching it uh just give it give it a few

[00:50:12] threads of wire and it's going to climb on the wires it's not too generous producing but um but

[00:50:20] it can be wonderful low maintenance yes low maintenance um others are crazy you know like like a like a

[00:50:29] teenager hair waking up you know crazy that you have to kind of tuck it in and and so that's

[00:50:37] that's like chardonnay or or even even merlot sometimes has has lots of new growth all the time

[00:50:44] and a lot of berries a lot of a lot of clusters uh so now in the winery um again some some allow you

[00:50:54] to be kind of easygoing some some would only um uh allow you to to do one one path like

[00:51:04] subium blank for example you have to avoid oxidation at all at all all you can and um and

[00:51:12] and ferment it very clean which is taking technicalities but but it offers you a very narrow path to

[00:51:19] to make or to have the best of it at the end of the of the of the um so so as you see it's

[00:51:27] it's a lot of different details that you can enjoy doing it and and and combining them uh along the way

[00:51:34] it's the one thing that this career has is it's so dynamic it's so you know changes daily um

[00:51:45] one day you're in the veneer one day we're tasting wines one day you're showing wine to people

[00:51:51] one day you're doing interviews with people and they you're doing a podcast right so it's I mean

[00:51:56] there's I mean everything but Minardes well what are some of your uh very popular wines with

[00:52:04] customers what are the ones that really have a hard time keeping it in stock yes uh I'm gonna say two

[00:52:10] of them um the timper neo and the gsm those are the most popular ones I think uh timper neo has

[00:52:19] found it's it's home here um and and also you know granades, the three that go into the gsm those we

[00:52:31] yeah we hardly can you know hold to inventories and we're constantly releasing new new ones

[00:52:39] on the whites uh our soviens blanc is is well known they people love it and and believe

[00:52:47] or not our Chardonnay is is also going going out very very fast um so yeah it's uh I mean there's a

[00:52:54] combination of of you know good wines what we believe it's it's good wines and people finding

[00:53:04] or trying to find what they know what they're familiar with um that's the case of the Chardonnay

[00:53:10] for example and uh but the timper neo has already established a name for for Texas Texas and timper

[00:53:18] neo has has you know kind of um becoming synonymous of you know a good good stuff and uh by the way

[00:53:28] we've uh every every time we kind of get our colleagues from from Spain uh to kind of do comparisons

[00:53:37] well it's it's um it's a I mean it's a it's always fun sure but I mean they they they get surprised yeah

[00:53:45] you know it's a let's leave that like that a lot yes well and speaking of the white wines um was it

[00:53:52] was at the Chardonnay from CERNBURG that won the the saddle in 2017 oh yeah yeah yeah that's

[00:53:58] first Texas winery to win the top Texas way yes um so with with his grapes what I do is to

[00:54:07] whole cluster press them so that's the most gentle way to press grapes and so you get a juice that it's

[00:54:17] some people would coalsettle that some people will take it to fermentation right away so that's

[00:54:25] that was the case and for that wine uh to cope I mean whole cluster press get that juice right into

[00:54:33] the barrels um to ferment and fermented for a month and it stay there for a year and a half

[00:54:41] and the trick there also is that um there's there's very little trouble with getting

[00:54:50] malolactifamination done in our Chardonnay and that might be related to the relatively high

[00:54:59] pHs that we have which makes things easier for the bacterias that do the job and uh but at the same

[00:55:08] time we let the let the wine kind of rest with that process going um for enough time to get rid of um the

[00:55:24] heavily buttery smell that malolactifamination sometimes has so that leaves us to um to get a

[00:55:35] more concentrated wine more nuances you know without being overly buttery and actually

[00:55:45] not buttery at all okay so you get the wood of course which is always french oak okay um

[00:55:54] and and the the concentration and complexity from malolactifamination 100 malolactifamination

[00:56:02] but not being the classic buttery you know Chardonnay that you you can drink a glass of and then

[00:56:10] and then you're done it's it's way more attractive and those hickory sands that we were talking about

[00:56:17] makes it um at the same time very mineral okay so you can easily confuse it for

[00:56:26] like a european cowder part um so i guess that's that's one of the reasons why it got so much

[00:56:34] attention that that in 2017 that the best white wine of the show at houston yeah yeah so for my

[00:56:41] listeners that don't know uh the houston rodeo has a big wine competition and and one of the biggest

[00:56:46] awards is the top texas white wine was awarded in 2017 uh for the first time to top okay top

[00:56:53] white wine of the show of the show yes then it was a texas wine that's how i said texas in there i mean

[00:56:58] it was a texas wine so um and then fall creek being the first to ever win that saddle so really cool

[00:57:04] cool thing and it was on display for a while there at the driftwood tasting room yeah yeah we

[00:57:08] moved around okay gotcha still there yeah it's a neat thing to see not going in over over a horse

[00:57:14] it's right on the on the so you also have a wine um that i've seen called lascalo is a low

[00:57:22] yes and then i also saw one i wanted to ask you about the mission uh the mission yeah so tell me a

[00:57:27] little bit about those two so yeah lascalo is is a wine uh uh shin and blank that um was designed to

[00:57:36] to have lower calorie content okay so that's that's why the name lascalo and this is susan's

[00:57:45] idea she she's always you know thinking about you know ways to kind of attract people and and to

[00:57:52] please new new new customers or eventually new customers and uh she heard about well people people

[00:58:01] worried about the calories on the wine and one way to to lower the calories of wines is is to

[00:58:09] have it with lower alcohol okay because the bulk of the calories is coming from the alcohol

[00:58:17] so and nothing else actually in dry wines there's nothing else having calories so alcohol so if you

[00:58:22] make a wine with lower alcohol it becomes low calorie or lower calorie and um by harvesting

[00:58:31] shenan super early you get low sugar and that translates to low alcohol and now that is something

[00:58:42] we can do in tix's by by the way because um we're one of the things we're always kind of um uh

[00:58:54] how do you say uh complaining about is low acidity and okay yeah because of the weather

[00:59:00] excited the heat etc so uh so by harvesting early you get high acidity and usually in in

[00:59:08] in a normal condition like in the west coast or places that are not as as hot as texas if you harvest

[00:59:15] that early with that uh sugar target in mind you get a huge amount of acidity like way over the

[00:59:23] top that's undrinkable if you ferment that and keep it like it is it's undrinkable you

[00:59:29] it's like lemon juice yeah and so you can't do that but you can't do it here in texas because

[00:59:35] of the heat so so we get drinkable levels of acidity and low alcohol so perfect combination

[00:59:42] perfect combination so if there's a place to do something like that is texas so we try it with

[00:59:48] with shenan and and that's that's the less gallo and so um and and so we started in 2020 now we're

[00:59:57] going to introduce the 22 in a few weeks so and then yeah that's the concept oh and we released a

[01:00:05] less gallo rose rose okay same same concepts early harvesting low sugar hence low alcohol

[01:00:13] decent acidity so it's all it's all um uh rounding up in in a nice blend

[01:00:20] um the mission mission uh that it's a it's a it's an interesting story um you know they

[01:00:30] this is before my time they had the mission wine made long time ago a cabernet based wine or cabernet

[01:00:40] wine and um and now we revamped it um and for us to be able to use the the alamo image we

[01:00:52] contacted the the uh entity that that manages the the the alamo itself yeah the the the place

[01:01:00] itself and so uh we agree i mean they agreed to to allow us to to use the image so so part of

[01:01:08] the proceedings go to help you know um maintaining restoration restoration and all or keeping keeping

[01:01:16] the alamo the way the way it should be kept and so and so that's the that's why has the the

[01:01:22] alamo uh logo there i mean yes the alamo logo it's called mission um san antonio de valero

[01:01:30] that was the original name of the of the mission there so and uh a fun fact is that um driftwood

[01:01:39] or yes in driftwood our location in driftwood all that area yeah once was uh owned by

[01:01:49] William B travis uh one of the heroes of the alamo yes so and part of that wine comes from grapes

[01:01:59] grown in that same area okay so there you have it you can have a sip of of a wine whose uh

[01:02:07] vines grow in in a land that used to be from you know the hero that William Travis really fun

[01:02:15] tires so yeah it's there's a connection there so um uh yeah and i love the giving back of that to

[01:02:22] help with the preservation and all that yeah we're so we're using the image knowing that we need to

[01:02:27] get back to the giving place yes great well so um we talked a little bit about the fruit the wines

[01:02:34] let's focus in on the the coming here for a tasting and things like that y'all do type of vits

[01:02:39] or things here at the winery yeah you can you can come to either location here in town we're open

[01:02:46] on saturdays only now now and uh but in driftwood we're open seven days a week

[01:02:53] 11 to 7 uh sundays is noon to five okay and um and you can have your tasting there's a couple

[01:03:00] of options there usually five wines in there and you can add some of these special wines that

[01:03:07] we have open sometimes or Coravan so you can you can have a taste of those um back i mean down in

[01:03:15] in driftwood you can you can uh uh have private private events you can have even weddings they

[01:03:22] do small way no not for not for big weddings it you know weddings under 100 people i think it is

[01:03:28] you can you can have there and uh so yeah and um we have a wine club as i guess every winery and uh

[01:03:36] you we have different levels uh different packages uh you know three bottles six bottles or more bottles

[01:03:45] of of different arrangements of our portfolio for different budgets so to speak uh we're doing it

[01:03:53] we just uh launch it doing it quarterly with one of them being optional because of the summer it's

[01:04:00] in the middle of the summer so we we don't ship during the summer because it's too hot and um

[01:04:07] and those that cannot make it to the pickup party they're relieved from their assignment so

[01:04:12] so that's optional and but but you know it would be february which it's happening right now it's

[01:04:20] february um may july and october okay texan wine month so those are the the the four uh instances

[01:04:29] and um and we're we're always kind of trying to um attract young generations uh inviting new new

[01:04:38] people to wine uh i know that even for me you know wine is is an acquired taste um so uh with

[01:04:47] with things um especially designed for for the young generations you know a lot lots of you know

[01:04:55] small screen kind of uh visuals and um uh so yeah so so that that the the club is is is going

[01:05:04] you know towards um attracting new new consumers yeah and then i as a wine tour operator i've

[01:05:13] driven a couple of wine tours we've been to the fall creek location there driftwood it is a beautiful

[01:05:18] location and you've got a couple of rooms that you rent out there yes yes forgot about that yes

[01:05:23] we have um like a guest house with two rooms that share a bathroom that you can rent out

[01:05:30] and then another room but sweet um just like another room so it's kind of a b and b without one

[01:05:38] of the b's because it's just the room b and w bad and wine yeah b and w yes so yeah and and um you

[01:05:46] you can go online and and and um and um book them so that's another i love that entrance as you come

[01:05:54] in with the vines on either side and one day i had a van full of people who were coming in

[01:05:58] and i saw this photographer standing there and i thought what what is this person doing i looked

[01:06:02] over and just as two people stepped out of the vines and guy got down on his knee and proposed

[01:06:07] to his fiance right there with with him and say we had just beautiful location yes we've had a number

[01:06:13] of proposals there and uh and and and we can work around like for the surprise yeah you know the

[01:06:21] the element of the surprise so so we can prepare things and be so anyway yeah just yeah cater it

[01:06:26] so yeah you just need to arrange it and we'll do it on on tastings um do they pick the wines

[01:06:33] that they're gonna taste if someone comes in for tasting or is it a set flight it's a set flight

[01:06:38] that changes okay so we're always easily yes so so we're always offering a new thing um and and

[01:06:46] there's a there's a cup of tasting winemaker's choice and there's another one um and you can

[01:06:52] always add uh if you if you like you know additional wines uh for the proper feed um so

[01:07:02] so yes and then you can enjoy of course any bottle there um it's i find i mean wine i mean tasting

[01:07:10] rooms i find them very attracted to people and and that's the message to to to people going over

[01:07:18] um tasting rooms basically you have you can sit down and have a uh a bottle of wine

[01:07:27] at a supermarket price basically not a restaurant price so um and you can be there enjoy the the

[01:07:37] time the beauty of the place uh yeah but yeah there's there's a there's a back patio uh that when

[01:07:46] when the weather you know allows is just a dream to be there uh with with the pool with a waterfall

[01:07:53] and um and in the background it's just a the perfect stage so yeah it's um it's um it's open for

[01:08:05] everybody with different tasting options and uh i'm gonna say probably 20 or 20 plus wines

[01:08:15] okay to choose from and do you know the average cost of the tasting i know being in the back

[01:08:21] of the house you may not know yeah it's currently it's 25 okay um if if um if you come in a group

[01:08:28] in a big group uh it can be more uh of uh of uh of uh discount there and but yeah that's now if

[01:08:38] somebody's getting excited they want to pack up the car and come out and visit a couple of

[01:08:42] questions they may want to know ahead of time do you have any kind of food options or can

[01:08:46] people bring their own food yeah that's my least expertise if you don't know that's okay but but

[01:08:52] we have you know uh cheese plates uh crackers and that kind of we don't we don't prepare fruit there

[01:08:58] we right you know small bite ready yes formal bites ready to to you know to offer um um yes that

[01:09:06] that's no no no kitchen no dishes you're prepared all that but it's ready to yeah easy finger

[01:09:14] finger food what about if they have young children or dogs or things like that or those

[01:09:18] things without okay oh welcome children um just just watch them so um but but yeah dogs who were

[01:09:27] dog friendly pet friendly place do you have any maximum group sizes if people are coming with a big

[01:09:33] group not really make reservations ahead of time yeah a heads up would would help of course uh and

[01:09:40] we take reservations by the way in driftwood we we um we serve you at a table okay yeah so it's seated

[01:09:49] tastings okay so you have your tasting but you're seating on a table and you're and you're served

[01:09:54] they are not standing at a bar on a bar so you're seated you're you're treated like like you know

[01:10:01] you know nicely in your own place you know on table and so for big groups yes calling and

[01:10:08] reserving ahead of time just to be able to range where people are going to be in a lot yeah so you

[01:10:13] can be you know when your own table ready to ready to go it's but that that's what we usually do okay yes

[01:10:20] so what are the busy and slow seasons what's the best time to come visit we already talked a

[01:10:24] little bit about the beauty of that bat patio in the summer i know when the spring comes you

[01:10:28] get all the wildflowers out there and everything but what's the best time for somebody to come

[01:10:31] visit would you say well it's it's always a good time uh i would say because if it's cold

[01:10:37] we got a cozy fireplace over there nice so you can you can enjoy that for spring of course

[01:10:45] we have all the outdoors you want the back patio like i said it's beautiful and um and i would say

[01:10:54] saturdays and sundays are the best of the week of course so that's when you probably want to

[01:11:02] call ahead of time okay to kind of reserve your spot um no problems with walk-ins but but if

[01:11:10] it's better to call before and uh but during weekdays pretty much you know open to everybody

[01:11:18] anybody any anytime um yeah so well let's say for some reason somebody can't get to either the

[01:11:26] two locations but they really want to taste your wine do you any kind of distribution

[01:11:29] or selling restaurants or online not all the wines are in distribution we are in distribution

[01:11:36] yeah i mean short answer we are in distribution um major chains you know out there you can find us

[01:11:45] but some of our batches are small batches that are wine club focused or tasting room focused

[01:11:55] um so i guess the best way to to uh get a taste of all our wines or any of our wines is join the club

[01:12:06] because that that way it opens you you know the the the door to you know all the wines

[01:12:13] like i said we're just i mean some of our wines are in distribution not not all of them right

[01:12:18] um and so yeah and the website fcv.com that's that i mean it's you know you can you can order wines

[01:12:27] online as well um and that that's another way to to get all of our wines and not only uh the the

[01:12:35] the ones uh distributed for our listeners that may not know we've spoken a lot about ed and susan

[01:12:43] true incredible pioneers and titans of the texas wine industry and we are sad to say ed did pass away

[01:12:50] like we mentioned back in october i know that susan like like sergio said is planning on taking

[01:12:55] those rains and continuing to go forward and leading forward with fall creek and now their son

[01:12:59] chad um is actually helping to come head up some of that as well so we're really excited for that

[01:13:04] because chad has an incredible resume of his own in the spirits industry um but along with all

[01:13:10] of that and the major changes kind of been going on since ed's passing um are there any big plans for

[01:13:15] future growth or changes or things he would have wanted us to to move keep on going keep on going

[01:13:23] move forward uh we're we're um you know keeping his his legacy um for for the future uh no that

[01:13:32] that's something absolutely that he would love now for us to to keep doing and and that's what

[01:13:38] chad and susan are doing right now we're we're moving forward growing expanding um you know

[01:13:44] introducing new new things all the time so yeah it's it's moving forward good good i'm glad to hear that

[01:13:52] yes all right so we've got a lot of places that customers can go visit what really sets fall creek

[01:13:57] vineyards apart from all the other wine destinations that people would say you know

[01:14:02] what i have to get out there to to tower to driftwood and see what it's all about there

[01:14:07] you know uh i think there are great places in the hill country um but the one compliment that i

[01:14:14] love to hear and i have to say i've heard it a lot because it's it's part of our purpose

[01:14:21] it's part of our objective is uh people saying all the wines were good

[01:14:29] hmm so it's not like oh that was outstanding and these are not no all all the wines are up to the

[01:14:36] task up up to so we're all into releasing you know all our wines to the maximum of their potential

[01:14:46] and if if we think that the wine is not going to be good enough we just not release it

[01:14:53] and so you're gonna have consistency out of fall creek as as a as a on purpose uh that's

[01:15:02] that's our goal uh of course we can't please everybody with every wine but but the most i hear

[01:15:08] and that's that's part of the objective is oh all the wines were good i mean like like there's

[01:15:14] there's no down wines and so very good because that that's our our um most pleasing uh comment

[01:15:23] we get from people and that's what we're all about premium wines um from the hill country from

[01:15:30] texas hill country premium wines from the texas hill country nailed it if that's what you're looking for

[01:15:44] you're gonna find it here at fall creek vineyards now the awards and the accolades that they've

[01:15:50] received in addition to their history their longevity the impact they've had really lends

[01:15:56] to their uniqueness and it speaks words and vines about the quality of the wines that they've been

[01:16:00] producing and providing for over 40 years now in the texas hill country and sergio's chilean

[01:16:07] background brings an international resume to these incredible wines and a lot of the experience

[01:16:12] that he brings to the table for those wines and to be sure not only will the texas wine world

[01:16:18] but the wine world as a whole will mourn and miss ed aller and the incredible impact he had

[01:16:24] on not only this region but on wine his impact will be as i said fell for generations but susan

[01:16:31] and chad continue on to bring an incredible future for this winery and i'm sure we can expect even

[01:16:36] greater things to come as they continue to make new roads now make sure to check out their website

[01:16:42] before you go it's www.fcv for fall creek vineyards.com pretty simple pretty easy fcv.com

[01:16:51] you're going to find more information there about some of their histories you can read a little more

[01:16:55] in depth on some of these things we talked about in this episode you can find things about their

[01:16:59] story you can even see an actual video of the fall creek falls that sergio mentioned in the

[01:17:05] interview they had that on the website there and all kinds of things like some of their

[01:17:09] events their tasting room info and even join their wine club while you're there now don't

[01:17:15] forget as always when you go to see them tell them you heard about them on this podcast

[01:17:19] texasunderbine now when i finished up my interview with sergio i was able to actually go into the

[01:17:26] tasting room and i met with james their tasting room manager to do a tasting of some of these

[01:17:30] great wines now he led me through this tasting he had tons of great info and background on the

[01:17:36] wines themselves and i'll be honest when i was going through the tasting and i got to the pinot

[01:17:41] noir i was a little skeptical you see pinot noir is not necessarily one of my favorite

[01:17:46] varieties it's okay i'll never turn down a glass if you offer it to me it's just not one that i would

[01:17:51] typically pick but i was blown away when i tasted their pinot noir so this is their pinot noir that

[01:17:58] i actually made my library bottle for this particular episode and as we noted in the

[01:18:03] interview pinot noir can be kind of finicky and tricky to make here in texas but sergio has

[01:18:07] really put his skills to show with this particular wine and has really made something to shout

[01:18:13] about this is a pinot noir that i really like it was so full of flavor it was smooth i knew immediately

[01:18:20] that's the bottle that's going to be my library bottle for this episode but you know sergio would

[01:18:25] be pleased because i walked away from that tasting thinking all the wines were good i really liked

[01:18:30] every one of them and as i walked out the doors i was just extremely touched by the

[01:18:36] extraordinary past the touching legacy that edin susan had made on the texas wine industry

[01:18:42] and just this important wine destination it is not one to be missed if you can only pick a handful

[01:18:48] of wineries to go to you got to put fall creek on your list it's just such an important place here

[01:18:53] in the hill country and i feel confident that their story is going to live on it's going to get

[01:18:59] even brighter with every single vintage that they continue to come out of their extraordinary

[01:19:03] wounds but now i must actually move on to bring you even more great wine destinations and

[01:19:10] more places and info about those before i go over i'm hoping that you're finding some value in this

[01:19:16] show finding some new places to try that maybe you haven't tried yet and if you are if you've

[01:19:21] benefited all from listening to any of these episodes would you consider maybe helping to

[01:19:25] support the show it's not free to create this podcast it costs a lot out of my pocket

[01:19:30] and any types of donations or ways that you can support the show are always incredibly

[01:19:35] helpful i do have a patreon where you can get some extra added benefits some behind the scenes photos

[01:19:41] and taste your walkthroughs you even get sneak peeks on where i'm going to go next you could be first

[01:19:47] one in the know so if you'd like to do that just go to my website it's texasundervine.com

[01:19:53] and you can click the become a patron link at the top of the page it will take you to my

[01:19:57] patreon site where you can choose just a low monthly amount if you want to give monthly

[01:20:02] and each level has different sort of benefits that you can get from that or you could even

[01:20:06] just do a one-time donation if you'd like but all of those things help me upgrade my equipment

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[01:20:16] incredible show to you so hopefully you found some value in the show and that's why you're

[01:20:20] watching or listening and if so if you could please return the favor it would be much appreciated

[01:20:24] i'm so thankful for my patreon subscribers another hearty shout out to you as you

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[01:20:39] always have access to the new episodes as they come out and until next time happy trails and

[01:20:44] bottoms up y'all thanks for listening to texasundervine we strive to provide you with the best

[01:20:55] information about wine businesses all over texas be sure to check out our website at texasundervine.com

[01:21:01] and follow us on our socials at texasundervine to stay up on all the upcoming episodes please email

[01:21:07] us with any suggestions or feedback also contact us if you're interested in donating sponsoring

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[01:21:17] info to you in future episodes above all travel safely and most especially drink responsibly

[01:21:33] vine trippers have i got a deal for you so if you haven't checked out the texas wine club yet

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